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Emails that the Town of Warrenton spent three years fighting to keep from the public do not include any big revelations about the process that led to approval of plans to build an Amazon data center. The release has some critics of the fight to withhold the emails asking why the town fought so hard to keep them private. The legal argument was over the meaning of ‘or’ in the exclusion section of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, which states, “the mayor or chief executive officer of any political subdivision of the commonwealth” are exempt from disclosure. The town argued that ‘or’ could mean ‘and,’ protecting the communications of both Schaeffer and the mayor. He said that Virginia’s FOIA rules were unclear, and that communities deserved to have a final answer. “I’d hoped it would go to the Virginia Supreme Court – it would be better to have that clarity,” Nevill said. Megan Rhyne, director of Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said citizens already received an answer in July, when the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in favor of CFFC that ‘or’ does not mean ‘and.’ “Unless and until the Supreme Court takes that up, that's the law of the land – the court of appeals’ ruling stands,” Rhyne said.

The Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg has launched a new digital collections platform where the public can access more than 35,000 historical items for the first time The online platform includes an extensive collection of manuscripts, pamphlets and family files, and architectural plans for Lynchburg buildings. Online finding aids that describe the materials held in physical and digital formats are available on the portal to provide assistance to the public, the library said in a news release. The library has digitized thousands of photographs, including portraits taken at Parker Studios and images taken by The News & Advance photographers between the 1940s and 1980s. The library said it will keep adding newly digitized materials to the collection on an ongoing basis.

Don’t remember the last time your septic tank was pumped? Here’s help in finding out. Clarke County and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) have set up an Online Responsible Maintenance Entity (OnlineRME) containing records for all onsite sewage systems in the county. Accessible to the public, the database is intended to help homeowners, contractors and sewage system operators understand the types of systems on properties and maintenance needs. It also can help them find out where wells and other components of the systems are located.

Michigan State University entirely redacted an internal review of plagiarism allegations against Jerlando Jackson that was released to The State News through a public records request, shielding information from public view on how the institution cleared the College of Education dean of wrongdoing. MSU’s obfuscation shrouds in secrecy the methods used by the university in an "exonerating" review that President Kevin Guskiewicz used in January to defend Jackson’s post atop one of the university’s most well-respected and highest-ranked colleges.